1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a computer signal converter and, more particularly, to a signal converter for an all-in-one USB connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
Different computer connectors are provided for personal and notebook computers and are used to connect corresponding external electronic devices to the personal and notebook computers. In general, current common computer connectors include USB 2.0, USB 3.0, External Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (hereinafter eSATA) connectors and the like. Common computer connectors are compact, but implementing multiple different computer connectors occupies a large space of a computer casing. Therefore, an all-in-one computer connector is proposed.
The USB 2.0 connector has four pins (VBUS, D−, D+, GND), the USB 3.0 connector has nine signal pins (VBUS, D−, D+, GND, RX+, RX−, GND, TX−, TX+) and the eSATA connector has seven signal pins (GND, RX+, RX−, GND, TX−, TX+, GND). An all-in-one computer connector corresponds to USB 3.0 and eSATA connectors. The computer connector has a regulator casing, seven upper signal pins inside the casing, four lower signal pins inside the casing and a separation separating the seven upper signal pins and four lower signal pins. Five of the seven upper signal pins are common pins for the USB 3.0 and eSATA. Four lower signal pins include VBUS, D−, D+, GND and are parts of the USB 3.0 signal pins to transmit USB 2.0 signals. Therefore, the five upper and four lower signal pins will be simultaneously active when a USB 3.0 plug of the external electronic device is connected to the all-in-one computer connector. The seven upper signal pins will be active if an eSATA plug of an external electronic device is connected to the all-in-one connector.
When the all-in-one connector is directly mounted on a main board of the computer, the main board of the computer has to accurately determine which kind of plug is connected to the all-in-one connector. Therefore, the computer polls the USB 3.0 and eSATA signal pins of the all-in-one computer connector. However, USB 3.0 signal pins and eSATA signal pins share common signal pins, so the computer may incorrectly determine which kind of plug is being connected to.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a signal converter for an all-in-one USB connector to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.